FACILITIES, STADIA AND THE ENVIRONMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

FACILITIES, STADIA AND THE ENVIRONMENT - Essay Example Some of these international sports events uphold the principles of promoting goodwill and friendship while the Olympic Games promotes mutual interdependence and economic cooperation, as what is shown in the logo. There are lots of Olympic sports events that were inherited from the Ancient Greek Olympic. Some of these were the Javelin throw, which was originally women's game; walkathon, originated by the Greeks and Romans; and, wrestling. The Athens Olympic Stadium stands as monument of the Ancient Greek sports in the modern world. The magnificence of Athens Olympic Stadium reminds the world that at one time, the Greek nation who owns this stadium were the ones dominant in sports, and their keen interest in reviving the glory of sports as evidence by the huge budget they spent merely for the renovations of the stadium. The stadium is indeed, believed to be "the biggest and most beautiful in the world."(Rizzo, internet source) It was the Greek who introduced Olympic Games in the world which paved the way for the modern Olympic Sports events. Originally, the Olympic Games dated from the Mycenaean times and were "held in honor of Zeus."(Athens 2004) In Greek and Roman times, "the track provided for foot races."(Universal World Reference Ency. p.4661) The stadium eventually came to be oval shaped and were sometimes built against a hill in order to enable spectators to view the races from elevated seats out into the hill.(ibid) The games were originally designated "exclusively for young Greek males confronting each other for the glory and wreath of olive leafs,"(Athens 2004) because Olympia was dedicated to Zeus and was therefore sacred area for men. The venue of most sports events were at the temple of Zeus in the fields of Olympia. Thus, the early games were held in the "character of festival of sports."(History of Olympic Games) The Olympic Games were highly regarded as festival that they would even stop wars to give way for the start of festival every full moon of August. During the games, athletes usually competed naked. They originally wore shorts but "competitors deliberately lost his short so that he could run more freely during the race in 720 .C., and clothing was then abolished"(History of Olympic Games) But the Olympic Games turned to be potentially corrupt, and finally "declared the games corrupt in 393 AD. (History of Olympic Games) Emperor Theodosius II destroyed Olympia's temple that ended the games that had been going on for centuries. However in 1870, a German excavation "unearthed the beauty and magnificent statues of the classical Greek games."(History) This archeological discovery at the sacred ground of Olympia prepared the way for the revival of the Olympic Games. Through the initiation of a Frenchman by the name of Pierre de Coubertin, the Olympic Games were re-instituted and the modern Olympics were born. With the first Olympiad "celebrated two years later in Athens where an estimated 245 male athletes from 14 nations competed in the ancient Panathenaican Stadium before a large and ardent crowd."(History) Although, the American got 9 of the 12 track and field events, Greece won the most number of medals with highlights of the victory by native peasants Spiros Louis in the first marathon race. The Olympic Stadium was later named after him. Inspired by this performance and by the revival and the return of the Olympic Ga